maratoolLying Triceps Press with Barbell
How to do the lying triceps press with barbell
- Lie on a flat bench with your head at one end.
- Grasp an EZ or Curl bar with an overhand grip.
- Raise the bar straight up over your shoulders, taking care to keep your elbows in close.
- Slowly lower the bar in an arc over your head.
- Return the bar to the starting position.
- Note: Keep your arms straight throughout this exercise moving only your elbows.
Muscles worked
The prime mover is the triceps brachii, which straightens the elbow, and through its long head helps pull the arm back at the shoulder.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the chest adds pushing force at the shoulder.
How this movement works
Everything happens at one joint. That gives you direct control over where the tension sits; the trade-off is that the muscle gets no help, so the load that feels hard here is a fraction of what a multi-joint version of the pattern would take. Slow, complete repetitions beat heavy ones.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the triceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Lying Two Arm Triceps Extension with Dumbbelldumbbell
- Machine Triceps Extensionmachine
- One Arm Low-Pulley Triceps Extension with Cablecable
- Overhead Tricepsbody only
- Smith Machine Close Grip Bench Presssmith machine + machine
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.